


A Tired Plants Life

by IAmAshamedOfMyFanfics (faraandmera)



Series: The Undramatic Lives Of Fictional Creatures [1]
Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fantasy, Friendship, everyone is some sort of supernatural creature or spirit, hyungwon the plant spirit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-27
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-08-27 09:49:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8396971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faraandmera/pseuds/IAmAshamedOfMyFanfics
Summary: Hyungwon through his life discovers a number of other beings. Humans that don’t understand him, and vampires, ghosts, angels, demons, and werewolves that do. Even if he remembers the events, how he ended up living with a bunch of others that humans don’t believe are real he’s still not sure.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr version: hiamashamedofmyfanfics.tumblr.com/post/147261025900/a-tired-plants-life
> 
> Originally written in July.

When Hyungwon was little- about two hundred years ago- his parents gave him a sprout of a tree and told him that it would grow alongside him. As long as he was happy his energy would provide the sprout with everything it needed to survive. One day there would be a big tree for the plant spirit to call his home or even a part of himself.  A lightning strike hit the forest when he was fully grown- about a hundred and fifty years ago- and bunt the tree down.

Petals of flowers that grew from Hyungwon wilted and fell away- they’d be replaced eventually- when he realized there was no saving the plant. His best- only- friend told him that there was nothing he could have done. The words didn’t mean much to Hyungwon but the sentiment, the attempts at comfort, helped a little. Hyungwon knew the other- a plant spirit himself- lost any plants they had been tending to as well so he appreciated him taking the time to comfort Hyungwon while going through the same thing.

When Hyungwon is a hundred years old- and appears in his twentys as he always will if a human saw him- he makes his home in a forest clearing. Theres trees surrounding the area and light falls over him in the summer, making it easy for flowers to sprout and bloom from him. From his wrist a carnation, from his head an Antirrhinum, from his shoulder a dandelion. Vines grow from his shoulder twirl themselves over his arm, and he’s content to let them. To let the plants that are a part of him overgrow. He could sleep, like that, in the clearings grass, and nothing would stop him.

His first interaction with a human is fifty years later and a scream. They kneel beside him, hands on his arms, shaking him. Try to wake up from his slumber. Hyungwon feels a tug at the vines over his arm, blinks awake and stares up at the worried expression of a human. They stare, he stares, and then when they try to help him up, try to push away the plants, they scream.

“What?” Hyungwon’s expression twists, confusion, worry, and the human falls back. They crawl away from Hyungwon as a petal falls to the ground.

“The flowers-” They don’t seem to know how to finish their sentence. Not that Hyungwon needs them to. Humans don’t sprout plants from themselves. Don’t grow vines  from their skin. It’s unusual, scary even, to a human.

“It’s okay.” Hyungwons’ words do nothing to help. The human stands, takes steps back, and Hyungwon stills. “They’re not- It’s normal.”

“It is not!” The human spouts words of fear, of disbelief, of disgust, and before the turn and run.

Hyungwon had been warned when he was young. Humans don’t understand beings like him. Will find him strange. May try to hurt him. It had never seemed important, out in the middle of the forest. Out of the way of humans. He wasn’t doing anything to hurt hem, wasn’t in the way, so why would it matter?

More humans arrive and chase him away from his clearing, his home. Briefly he considers displaying what more he could do. Considers showing them his connection to plants and his ability to control them. To use them. But he doesn’t. Avoids humans and pretends it doesn’t hurt that the other beings wont even consider spirits like himself as anything more than something to gawk at or hate.

It isn’t until he’s reaching his second century that Hyungwon is forced to interact with humans again. Machines cut down the forest around him, he hides. As machines and humans build up homes for other humans, he hides. The forest around him disappears and he loses his places to hide. He understands. He really tries to at least. There are more humans than him, they need places to live, he tries to tell himself. It’s easy enough to blend in with them, too. The scents of a city may clash with the ever lasting smell of flowers that follows him, but as long as he plucks away or hides the flowers themselves, he doesn’t stand out too much.

Maybe he’s a little tall, and his expressions a little off, since not used to interacting with them. Sure, he shines a bit more in the sun, but loose clothing- stolen clothing- and a hunch as he walks keeps attention from him more often than not.

Running into another plant spirit in the city isn’t something he expects. Nor the fact it’s the one who he was friends with. Yet there’s Hoseok, crouched down in a pet store- pretending to be interested in the lizards but mostly just soaking up the artificial light from their tanks.

“You look suspicious.” Hyungwon kicks him, watching Hoseok tumble over before standing and frowning at him. “Get a job.”

“Excuse you I have a job.”

“…”

“You’re right I don’t have a job.” Hoseok shrugs. “But it’s been cloudy- and not even raining- for weeks! Don’t you feel sick?”

“…Tired, mostly.”

“You’re always tired.”

“True.”

Hoseok tells Hyungwon of an abandoned apartment in a not-abandoned complex- a haunted one at that- that he’d made his home until he can figure out how to work while hiding his status as a ‘plant man’. Hyungwon had been sleeping outside, or on roofs, not even considering secretly living in a place made for humans.

“Haunted?”

“The ghost is a good guy, usually.”

“Humans haven’t noticed?”

“I’m subtle.”

“You were about a second away from sticking your head into a lizard tank. Subtle is like the opposite of you.”

“Don’t call me out like this.”

Questions of Subtlety aside, Hoseok tells Hyungwon he should join him in the unused apartment. Maybe with both of them it’d make the chance of actually living there officially higher.

 

Jooheon is barely an adult, Hyungwon notes. The ghost maybe be older than he looks- permanently stuck as the age he died- but that doesn’t change the fact he died young. Not young enough to get a lot of attention, not a child, but not old enough to say he had a chance to live his life. Hyungwon sort of expects that to reflect in bitterness towards the living, whether they be human or not. Instead Jooheon just seems happy to have company.

“Not many people are super cool with befriending ghosts. If they can see me at all. Jerks.”

“Not a lot of people want to befriend plant spirits knowingly, either.”

“For the record If I was alive i’d be cool with it.”

“Too bad you’re super dead.”

“Is there a such thing as super dead?” Jooheon gives a half-laugh. His form turns upside down where he floats- not that he seems to notice- as he gives a hum in thought. “What’s the difference between super and regular dead?”

“…Being a ghost, probably.”

“Wouldn’t not being a ghost make you more dead?”

“Well… Yeah I guess.” Hyungwon shrugs.

 

The longer Hyungwon is around humans, the more he learns of their fascination with the possibility and mythos of vampires. He doesn’t really get it; what’s so appealing about creatures sucking the life from you? Since he doesn’t bleed, though, maybe he can’t really have an opinion on them. If they’re real or not, Hyungwon doesn’t have much a reason to care.

Being that his sense of smell is stronger than most humans, Hyungwon tends to notice things humans wouldn’t. Like the smell of blood from yards away in the middle of a park. He expects a few possible things; maybe a small human injury, maybe a murder, possibly a problem he doesn’t have any business paying attention to. Unlike any of those, what he finds is a guy sitting at a table in the middle of the park with a paper cup of blood- drinking it through the straw- that he would assume was fruit if he couldn’t smell it.

As if noticing Hyungwon staring, the guy looks up to meet his eyes. Hyungwon glances down at the cup, then back to the others eyes, and raises an eyebrow. Their expression turn to a frown, they glance down at the cup- black hair falling over their eyes- before the look back up at Hyungwon. Honestly it’s not any of Hyungwons business if someone wants to drink blood in the middle a park who was he to care? Still it seemed like a strange time and place, but he shakes his head- ready to leave- when he looks back and realizes they’re halfway to him.

“What?” Their voice is lower than he expects, a whisper, and Hyungwon feels like laughing for some reason.

“Drinking blood in broad daylight seems dangerous.”

“Yeah, well,” They mutter, shrugging. “You’ve got a flower growing from your neck.”

Hyungwon hadn’t noticed, but he knows when his eyes widen and he reaches down to his neck where he can feel the petals under his fingers. “You think anyone noticed?”

“Maybe not.”

Before Hyungwon realizes it, there’s a hand at his neck pulling the flower from it. It doesn’t hurt- never does- but he jumps, startled. “What.” More of statement of confusion that it is a question, Hyungwon glares.

“What are you?”

“What are you?” Hyungwon repeats back, and the stranger laughs.

“Vampire.”

“Plant spirit.”

“Cool.”

His name is Changkyun, Hyungwon finds out after the other hands Hyungwon back the flower. The series of events that take place over the following days are mixed up in Hyungwons tired- when will the sun return- mind but next thing he knows he has another housemate in the vampire. Jooheon and Changkyun seem to enjoy watching terrible vampire and ghost movies together and making fun of them while Hoseok and Hyungwon silently wonder if there are even any movies about them. There aren’t any that they can find and that’s sort of disappointing.

 

As if to complete a perfect trio of creatures misrepresented by humans, Hoseok bursts into the apartment one day with a shout of “Guess who met a werewolf!”

“Jooheon,” Hyungwon replies, not bothering to open his eyes from where he lays against the window basking in what little sunlight there is.

“The old lady downstairs,” Changkyun offers, instead.

“The main character in a young adult novel,” Jooheon adds.

“Guys. Stop.” Hoseok sighs, pretending to be actually annoyed. “It was me, duh. Meet Minhyuk.”

Minhyuk, as it turns out is, in fact, a werewolf. It’s not hard to believe. The man is filled with energy and it’s hard not to be reminded of a dog when Hyungwon looks at him. It doesn’t help the case any that Minhyuk seems to constantly point out the smells of the others.

Hoseok smells like bark and wet soil, Changkyun like blood and lavender, Jooheon like nothing, Hyungwon like lilies and strawberries. Hyungwon would agree- though he can’t really notice his own scent- with Minhyuk.

“I hear it’s going to be sunny tomorrow.” Minhyuk mentions one day.

“It’s also a full moon.”

“Yeah but that’s less important.”

“Is it?” Hyungwon frowns. “Shouldn’t that be more important for you? With the whole, ya know, werewolf thing.”

“Oh I mean that’s more important for me but I thought you’d want to know more about the sun. With the whole, plant thing. Do you operate on photosynthesis?”

“…Yes.”

“Don’t lie to him!” Hoseok yells from the kitchen.

“You couldn’t let me have this for, like, a minute?”

“So you don’t?” Minhyuk laughs. “Or is that just not it?”

“There’s more, but part if it is basically that.”

 

Hyungwon doesn’t know a lot about angels or demons. He knows humans have beliefs around them, he knows that there are multiple inconsistencies in those beliefs. But if they exist, if they are any of the things humans believe? He doesn’t know.

So when he sees the person face down with wings sprouting from their back in the park, he does a double-take. “No.”

_Yes,_ Hyungwon realizes, _that is what he thinks it is._ An angel. Or something along those lines, at least. Their wings are fluffy, feathers fall to the ground when their wings shift, and glow with a slightly purple tint. Like lavender. (Hyungwon vaguely thinks he’s never grown lavender.)

“Are you alright, wing-guy?” Is clearly the best thing Hyungwon could have said. At least, it’s what he does say. In turn the guy- with the wings- blinks at him in shock.

“You can see them?”

“Yes?”

“You’re… not human.”

“Correct.” Hyungwon laughs. “You either.”

“Right.” The shift, stand, and another feather falls out. “I’m okay.”

“Your feathers.”

“It’s because I fell.” They frown. “They’ll grow back… eventually.”

Hyungwon figures they could use the help, and maybe the idea of learning what an angel actually is, is also part of it, so he offers them a place with the rest of his inhuman roommates. Hyungwon is actually surprised when heagree, but leads him back- after exchanging names- anyway.

“This is Hyunwoo. He’s an angel.”

 

Though Hyungwon doesn’t know how it happens, the arrival and subsequent addition to their home of Hyunwoo also brings a demon. A few weeks after Hyunwoo starts staying with them- how easily new additions to their home come always amazing- a demon shows up at their door. Of course they don’t know he’s a demon at first.

Kihyun doesn’t look very demon-like at first glance. But he does smell vaguely of fire. It’s Hyunwoo, telling them it’s okay and that they can trust him, that lets them know what Kihyun is.

“I was cast aside for helping an angel, he got cast aside for helping me. It’s stupid really,” Kihyun explains when they question his appearance. It doesn’t take much more than one of their trust to have Kihyun end up with a spot in their home. To make things better, he actually has a human job and becomes the one to make their living situation actually legal.

“Hyungwon when was the last time you went outside?”

“A week ago?” He’d spent most of the week sleeping, the rainy days not offering him much.

“Go outside.” Kihyun all but drags Hyungwon to his feet. “It’s sunny.”

“I’m tired.”

“Because you haven’t been in the sun.”

“…Good point.”

 

When Hyungwon was little, he’d been given a tree sprout. When Hyungwon turns about two hundred and three years old, he’s given a strawberry plant by his house-mates.

“A tree wouldn’t fit in the apartment.” Hoseok hands it to him.

“Besides we cant eat trees.” Changkyun doesn’t manage to avoid it when Kihyun kicks him.

“Happy approximate birthday,” Kihyun offers when Hyungwon laughs.

“Don’t over grow it.” Jooheon laughs when Hyungwon tries to hit him. “Dude I’m incorporeal.”

“Minhyuk chose what plant it actually was.” Hyungwoo motions to the werewolf who grins.

“You already smell like them might as well grow some.”

“Thank you.” Hyungwon takes the plant, and hums in thought. “I don’t usually grow fruit past the flower stage. This’ll be different.”

“All the better, right? Never too late to try new things,” Jooheon points out.

“Jooheon you are dead. It’s too late for you to try new things.” Changkyun laughs when Jooheon tries to hit him. “You just said how you were incorporeal did you already forget?”

“Why must you hurt me?”

Hyungwon snorts a laugh and covers his mouth. “You guys are- no- I love you.”

“Hyungwon you’re gonna make me cry.” Hoseok clutches his chest.

“Cheesy.” Changkyun smiles.

“I’d hug you if I could.” Jooheon makes a heart with his hands instead.

“Yeah, well…” Kihyun shrugs. “Duh.”

“Us too.” Hyunwoo nods.

“Yeah, us too!” Minhyuk is the one to actually hug him, and pull the others- sans Jooheon- into the hug.

This is nice, Hyungwon decides. Humans wont understand him, his forest home is gone, but this is nice. He has plenty of non-human friends- family even- and a home with a window that sun can come through when it’s actually sunny to make up for being confined to a human home. It’s fine. He might actually prefer it.

A few weeks later they have strawberries.


End file.
